Week-By-Week

Pregnancy Calendar

Week 9

Your Baby:

Is about the size of a grape, or perhaps a cocktail olive, the kind that’s marinated in vermouth and stuffed with blue cheese.

(Is not marinated in vermouth or stuffed with blue cheese.)

Has fingers and toes and eyelids and ears.

External boy and girl-parts are present, but won’t be really distinguishable for another couple weeks.

You:

Have a uterus the size of a flipping grapefruit, lady.

*BARF* Again. Still.

With all the extra blood pumping through your system (about 50% more blood volume, actually), your body temperature may be a little jacked up — if you’re constantly complaining about being too hot or too cold, this is why.

You may have gained some weight already (that was me, two weeks ago), or you may have lost some weight (that’s me, now). Here’s how your weight gain should pan out over the next seven months or so, at least according to your average pregnancy book or website:

So that means the average pregnancy book thinks you should gain no more than 31 pounds total. Otherwise, you are a big fat fattie who ate her weight in Cheezits because she thought pregnancy gave her a free pass. YOU FAIL PREGNANCY!

The truth is, weight gain in pregnancy varies WILDLY from woman to woman, just like our “normal” weights and metabolisms vary. Some women can eat and eat and eat and still gain weight in line with the guide above, while others seem to balloon up no matter how healthy and reasonable their diets are. It’s all about genetics (ask your mom how much she gained), your pre-pregnancy level of fitness and metabolism, and also just some random streaks of luck.

Sometimes weight gain will vary for the same woman over different pregnancies.

Obviously, we all want to eat healthy and make sure our babies are getting all the right nutrients and none of us want to struggle with 20 extra pounds of “baby weight” for the next 20 years. It does feel nice to indulge in that entire pint of ice cream or box of cookies, but blah blah blah moderation.

You know what? Just do your best. It’ll be enough, I promise.

Oh Yeah, THIS: The hair on my legs and other…ahem…areas is growing alarmingly fast. That is all.

New This Time Around: Ages and ages ago, before I ever had any babies, I was that girl who was always cold. Always! I took a sweater everywhere in case of air conditioning, and I’d get goose bumps from having the car windows down in 80-degree weather. And then I got pregnant and ACK! HOT! ALWAYS SO HOT! I couldn’t sleep under the covers and was always sweaty and OF COURSE I was pregnant during some of the hottest temperatures Washington, DC had seen in years. I’ve bordered on being “too hot” ever since.

This time I am so freaking cold I cannot stand it. I need more blankets and flannel pyjamas and I can make grown men scream with the slightest poke of my corpse-like ice-cold feet. The temperature was in the high 60s the other day and I wandered around with my teeth chattering. Bah.

Don’t forget that some weight gain comes from that extra blood volume — at least, that’s what my doctors and pregnancy books told me. That way, when I faced my 45-pound pregnancy gain I could wave it away with, “But a lot of that is just extra blood for THE BABY.” Of course, it really only accounts for a couple of pounds, but ssshhh.
(Apologies if this goes through twice — I posted it a couple of hours ago but don’t see it now.)

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11 years ago

Guest

WabiSabiLife

Oh. I guess all that extra blood explains the night sweats I’ve gotten 4 out of the last 7 nights. I hate waking up slick, throwing off the covers and being instantly frozen.
(I am officially five days ahead of this column–with my first–so this is fun readin’.)

I just wanted to say that for some people born in the 1970s, asking your mom for her weight gain may not be terribly accurate. My mom, who was pretty much a stick in 1974, was told not to gain more than 20 lbs. Say WHAT?! Why, I don’t know. What I DO know is that I was two weeks LATE and only weighed 6lbs 13oz. With my brother, who is 12 years younger than I am, she gained a much more realistic amount of weight (around 30 lbs) and he was born 3 days “early” at almost 8 lbs.… Read more »

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11 years ago

Guest

psumommy

i’m a HUGE believer that the weight gain ‘suggestion’ is full of bull. And I completely subscribe to eating healthily, doing some mild exercise regularly, and just letting your body do what it needs to do. This is coming from someone who lost 5lbs in the first trimester with the first pregnancy, and now with the 4th has gained 13lbs and am just barely into my 2nd trimester. Sigh.
I’m absolutely freezing this time around, too. It’s driving me insane! Too cold all day then too hot at night. Gotta love pregnancy.

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11 years ago

Guest

Zoot

I gained 65lbs with kid #1, 50lbs with kid #2 and am on my way to 55lbs with kid #3 if my current trends are any indication. I spit on the “recommended” weight gain.
But, in the defense of the doctors that yell at me every visit, it’s not healthy eating. It’s anxiety eating.
Also – right now? I’m SWEATING MY ASS OFF and the thermostat says 60 degrees. So, um, yeah.

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11 years ago

Guest

Amy Corbett Storch

Zoot, I totally had you in mind when I wrote this entry. You and the other pregnant mother at Noah’s Kids At Play group, who gained 100 pounds with her daughter and is already up 35 pounds at four and a half months with her second. And I met her before this pregnancy, and she’s the tiniest, most active (she’s a swimmer) thing ever. This is just how her body does pregnancy, and obviously she can drop the weight afterwards.
In summary: stupid books and guidelines.

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11 years ago

Guest

KlausHaus

I just want to make the comment that I love this zero to 40 side of things. I frequent another website which tracks the growth of the baby and it is just so uninspired, but THIS site is just spectacular. Each Wednesday morning, when I reach another week, I read aloud to my husband what you have here. It is so much fun, and not as scary…. Thank YOU for the weekly dose of inspiration. I also don’t look ahead so that I’m surprised each week 🙂

Please, please tell me when I can poop normally again! I NEVER had constipation when I was pregnant the first time. NEVER. And now, it is turning me into a witch with a capital B who is in pain that she is just not used to.

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10 years ago

Guest

gtdnmkluv

I remember going to my first visit with my second child where they told me not to gain more than 20 pounds. Considering I gained 35 with my first, I immediately requested another doctor. I later found out they say that because of the overweight rate. However, starting out at 110 pounds, I was very offended that I was told that. I didn’t feel I should even be approached with the overweight info ( not to sound conceided at all, but you dont want to make a pregnant woman feel any bigger than she already feels) Anyway, I gained 35… Read more »

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10 years ago

Guest

susie

ahaha oh man that “YOU FAIL PREGNANCY!” comment cracked me up. i admit it, i lol’ed. it’s a good point, i think way too many women get worked up about whether or not they are “on schedule” or fitting into the general guidelines. every pregnancy is different, and every woman is different. obviously, a woman who starts out weighing 98lbs should probably gain more than 30lbs during pregnancy, while a woman who starts out at 300lbs might actually be doing herself and her baby a favor if she LOSES weight during pregnancy (i am NOT a doctor and am NOT… Read more »

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10 years ago

Guest

amy

I have lost 6 pounds so far. Doctor said it is normal and I should gain once that my body is used to eating better food! and well less food. I also throw up on a regular basis. SIGH! and have all day sickness and can’t eat normal portions without well you know so that has alot to do with it. My doctor is old school and well old so he really does not push lot of stuff which I LOVE!. I continue to work out but not as much as before. My 4 mile walk has been cut in… Read more »

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9 years ago

Guest

sarahm

I just wanted to say that I poopped a button on my shirt today. I am 9 weeks. Erg! so much for that shirt. HA HA

My doctor hasn’t even mentioned weight to me. (I started off at a healthy weight, which might be part of it.) She gave me a list of foods I should try and pack in and ones to avoid (which was about safety issues, not cheetos) and left it at that.

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9 years ago

Guest

Janet

I lost my concept of time for a day this week. I saw the numbers on the clock, but it had NO meaning for me. I was a little late for work and almost missed picking my 5 year old up at the bus stop! I feel like I have pregnancy brain times ten with this pregnancy!

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9 years ago

Guest

April

Thank you for this entry! I have gained a few pounds already and have been shaming myself. My friend who keeps telling me that she wore her jeans until she was 7 months (!!) is really making me want to hurt someone. Her specifically. Anyway, I exercise regularly and am generally a healthy eater so the weight gain PLUS the acne I now have – GAH! – are making me feel, well… not so glowy. Also my Mom has made comments about how doctors back in the 70s would never stand for all of the weight gain pregnant women do… Read more »

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9 years ago

Guest

cas

are we having the same pregnancy…I can not seem to get warm to save my life! It doesn’t help that my work is freezing all the time as well (my non-pregnant coworkers complain about how could it is in here!)

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6 years ago

Guest

Rachel

Thank you for such a fun blog! I may have read ahead (its too funny not to, so sue me) but I love coming back on my actual week and rereading that week’s post to remind myself that a) I’m not crazy, b) ok I might be crazy but so is everyone else, and c) its normal not to match the ‘recommended guidelines’ that every book is shoving down my throat! This is my first so I’m very grateful for the down to earth advice.

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6 years ago

Guest

meredith

……..AND now I REALLY want some Cheez-Its.

Thanks for such a fantastic blog! Your rock!

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5 years ago

Guest

Eden

I seriously need to get my husband reading your blog about pregnancy. This is spot on. Its like, “Ugh, new symptom already?” and BLAM two days later when I read this it’s all there. Like freakin clockwork.

Thank you for bringing humor to pregnancy. All the other ones are doom and gloom and not fun. thank you for making me laugh 🙂

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4 years ago

Guest

Carmen

I am so thankful for this website. I am living in Mexico where I don’t speak Spanish and all of this is very exciting and all the info is exactly me. I am so glad to know everyone is feeling the cold and hot thing. I AM COLD IN MEXICO if it make you feel better 🙂 I had to buy a sweatshirt that I now live in. Yogurt is my new best friend and I eat it for breakfast or in the middle of the night and it is the answer to the constipation I have never had it… Read more »

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4 years ago

Guest

Lisa

Luckily I haven’t gained much weight yet, and I’m still managing to fit into regular pants. Things are getting kind of snug and bloaty though. This is week is the first week I finally got the sore, heavy boobs! Isn’t that supposed to be one of the earliest pregnancy symptoms? I’m a little behind with that one!

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4 years ago

Guest

Zoe

And dreams! Crazy & mundane dreams. I remember it was so with my previous pregnancies also. I heard that alcohol can inhibit dream recall so it might be now that I’m abstaining that my dreams are stronger but I also heard pregnancy does help with dream recall. Anyone else?

Week-by-Week

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